iMessage

Apple has a messaging protocol, iMessage. Unlimited free messaging between iPhones, iPads, and Macs. (The Mac client is currently in public beta.)

It has clear advantages over SMS and AIM. The disadvantage: It’s a closed protocol available only to Apple devices, so Android and Windows users aren’t invited to the conversation.

As a longtime Apple fan, it used to infuriate me when Microsoft would leverage its market dominance to lock customers in with proprietary protocols. Now it’s Apple with the market dominance, and the tactic looks disturbingly familiar.

We used to call Microsoft the Evil Empire. Google took a poke at them with the motto, “Don’t be evil.” Is Apple now becoming the Evil Empire?

What do you think? Should Apple open iMessage (and maybe other iCloud services) to competing platforms? Should they be required to? Creating a communications network that is not fully open to competitors’ devices is the classic textbook example of monopolistic abuse.

(I’m admittedly anticipating events. The Mac Messages client is still in beta, and hasn’t reached the level of market penetration where Android and Windows devices are seriously disadvantaged by not being able to fully integrate with the Messages on my Mac and my iOS devices. But we all know it’s going to catch on, so unless you dispute that we’ll take it as a given for the sake of discussion.)

Aye, I understand. You'd be hard pressed to find people here with smartphones that don't have at least 500 free messages a month mind. Most contracts come with 500 - unlimited included. I text so much more than I call.